


Making Amends

by CookiesForMe



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 10:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookiesForMe/pseuds/CookiesForMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after Enemies Domestic and Enemies Foreign. AU after that. It's been thirteen years since Eli David had visited his daughter. Finally, he does, but he hadn't realised just how much lives can change in that amount of time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Amends

**Author's Note:**

> Kinda don't own NCIS, sorry, but enjoy it anyway, nor do I own the slight reference to Just Another Boy Band by the Midnight Beast.

Making Amends

Eli David climbed the stone steps wearily, though he'd never admit it to anyone, of course. It had been over twelve years since he'd last seen his only living child, and he had to admit it was all his fault. Ziva had tried again and again for the first five years to get him to come and visit her, to see what was now in her life, but he had always declined, telling his daughter that work was more important. After five years, she'd given up asking and he couldn't blame her. Still, he hoped this surprise visit almost thirteen years overdue wouldn't go too badly.

He reached the top of the stairs only to find a child sat on the landing throwing a purple ball at the wall, catching it each time it bounced back at her. Her hair, long dark unruly curls, hung wildly round her lightly tanned face, her dark eyes focused solely on the ball she was busy throwing. The girl couldn't have been older than twelve, wearing black skinny jeans, a white woolly jumper and black sturdy-looking boots. She threw the ball again as Eli approached. He cleared his throat but the girl paid no attention to him whatsoever. It was then that he noticed the small earphones on either side of her head, the music thumping out so loud Eli could hear it, even some of the words making their way clearly across to where Eli was stood, duffel bag in hand.

"We're just another boy band, we'll tear your little sister's heart apart."

He grimaced as the voices registered in his head. They sounded so… English. It was obvious he was no longer in Tel Aviv. He winced as coarse language emitted from her earphones. Suddenly she looked up, her messy curls falling back from her face as she did. She frowned slightly as she saw him standing there watching her, but she moved her legs out of the way anyway, allowing him the room to get past her. Instead of walking past however, he mimed her taking out her earphones. Sighing heavily, she pulled them out of her ears, scowling as she did.

"What?" She asked in English. Eli didn't realise she hadn't spoke in Hebrew however, as his brain hadn't quite made the transition over just yet.

"Didn't your mother teach you to have respect for people?" He asked in Hebrew. Suddenly, he realised the girl hadn't spoken in Hebrew, and was about to repeat himself in English when the girl surprised him.

"My Ima also told me not to speak to strangers, but what's your point?" She said, rolling her eyes as Eli's nearly popped out of his head at her words. The girl had spoken in English again, but to reply she had had to understand his words first.

"You understand Hebrew?" He asked in English. The girl rolled her eyes again.

"Well, duh," She told him, and he had to work not to scowl at the girl's attitude. Instead he focused on remaining neutral.

"What's your name?"

The girl pursed her lips in thought, obviously debating whether of not to tell him anything. Finally, she relaxed slightly and nodded. "My name is Gabrielle, what's yours?"

Eli nodded. "My name is Eli David. Now then, why are you talking to me if your Ima told you not to talk to strangers?"

"Ima also knows I would much rather trust my own judgement," Gabrielle smirked, "And I know who you are now."

"Oh, who am I then?" Eli asked, confident she wouldn't know who he was, let alone be able to guess who he was. Gabrielle read his thoughts from his face and grinned.

"You're the director of Mossad."

Eli's jaw dropped in shock as he stared at the grinning child. "How did you-"

"Ima and Aba told me," Gabrielle told him, throwing the purple ball at the wall just by Eli's head. The Mossad director flinched as the ball missed his by a mere centimetre. Usually things that came that close to his head were generally meant to hit him. His eyes flashed dangerously as he walked up to the child. Gabrielle looked at him, all humour gone from her face as she rose to stand before him, arms crossed defiantly.

"Why did you try to hit me?" He almost growled. Gabrielle shrugged, face impassive.

"Didn't. I would have hit you if I'd aimed for it."

Eli felt his temper rising as he pulled his weapon from the holster on his waist, but Gabrielle was too fast for him as she pulled her own weapon from the band of her jeans. Hey aimed the weapons at each other, both glaring at the other person across from them.

Suddenly another person made their presence known.

"Gabby, put that gun down now!"

Gabrielle immediately looked guilty and lowered her weapon, though she didn't put it away, Eli noticed. "Sorry Ima."

Eli looked curiously at the girl's mother and almost fell over in shock for stood near Gabrielle was non other than his daughter, Ziva. Ziva simply sighed and wiped her soapy hands on a tea towel she was holding.

"It's fine Gabby, but next time try to control yourself better."

"But he pulled a gun on me first, Ima." Gabrielle whined, finally replacing her weapon at the back of her jeans. Ziva sighed again.

"Who did?" Ziva asked, not seeing Eli stood at the edge of the landing, focusing completely on her daughter instead. Gabrielle sighed dramatically before waving over at where Eli stood.

"The Mossad director, duh."

Ziva turned, eyes wide, as she looked to where her daughter was pointing, letting out a gasp as she saw her father, a little older than she had thought him to look, but there none the less.

"Aba?"

"Ziva?"

The pair stood facing each other, neither quite sure what to say. Ziva was still in shock that Eli had bothered to turn up at all, and Eli was still talking in the daughter and the two golden rings on the left hand of his not-so-little girl. When it became clear that neither of them were going to speak, Gabrielle cleared her throat loudly.

"Yeah, hate to break up the awkwardness and all that, but maybe we can take this little silent argument inside," Gabrielle told them, her tone clearly not allowing room for any arguments. Ziva sighed apprehensively, but eventually nodded and held the door open for her father and daughter.

…

"Well," Eli commented as Ziva pulled a sealed bottle of water from the fridge and wordlessly handed it to him, "You've certainly done well for yourself. Where did you get the carvings of children that sit on your fireplace?"

"Gibbs," Was Ziva's shot reply. "Wedding gift."

"Ah," Eli replied, though it seemed slightly sad. Ziva rolled her eyes as Gabrielle simply watched them. Eli suddenly turned to Gabrielle.

"How old are you?"

Gabrielle simply stared at him, her mouth set into a firm line. It was clear she wasn't sharing information voluntarily. She could tell her mother wasn't happy that Eli was there, so Gabrielle decided to say as little as possible to show Eli she took her mother's side.

"She's just turned twelve," Ziva told him as she poured some pasta into a pan. Eli turned to Ziva.

"Do you still work, Ziva?"

"Yeah, still at NCIS," Ziva said as she looked into the fridge for some sauce to go with the pasta.

"Then how is it you care for your daughter?" Eli asked, frowning slightly. Ziva shut the fridge door with a loud thud, turning to face her father.

"You never cared about that."

"Things were different Ziva. Your mother looked after you and Tali. She was the one who stayed at home with you two."

Ziva sighed and smirked bitterly at her father. "You miss a few events and you make a lot of phone calls," She told him evenly. Gabrielle rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and they take it in turns a lot," Gabrielle piped in, her voice hard as she glared at the man who dared to insult her mother. "Ima stays one day, Aba stays the next. They take it in turns unless Auntie Abby decides to give me a new tour of Labby and a forensic science course for the day, or Uncle Tim lets me on his laptop for the day, when I'm at NCIS. And then Saba, who always cares and looks out for me when Ima and Aba can't."

Eli turned to Ziva, his eyes focused on her left hand. "And who exactly is her Aba?"

Ziva rolled her eyes just as the front door swung open and a male voice filled the tense air. "Zi, Gab, guess who's home?"

"Aba!" Gabrielle yelled, run towards the front door where her father picked her up and span her round happily, dropping his bag to the ground as he did.

"I missed you Gab," He told her as he carried her into the open plan living room and kitchen. "So, what did my little assassin child do today?"

"She mainly threw that ball you got her last month at Mrs Peterson's door and the wall beside it," Ziva told him as she kissed his cheek and he smiled lovingly back at her. "Hey Tony."

Tony smiled as he kissed his wife, still holding his daughter in his arms. "Hey, Zi, have a good day, sweetcheeks?"

Ziva gave him a tight smile. "It was… Interesting."

"What do you mean honey?"

"Tony? Anthony DiNozzo?" Eli asked incredulously from where he was stood in the corner of the room. Tony's eyes widened as he looked at his wife for an explanation. Ziva simply shrugged.

"I do not know Tony. All I know is that he and Gabby were about to shoot each other when I went to call her in."

"Shoot each other?" He asked, shocked, as he set Gabrielle down on the kitchen counter-top. Gabrielle had the decency to look sheepish at her father's disapproving yet oddly proud look.

Eli shrugged. "She threw the ball at me."

Both Ziva and Tony rolled their eyes at the same time and spoke in unison. "No she didn't."

"How would you two know?"

"She is our daughter," Tony pointed out. "We know what she's like."

"Plus she's done that trick on almost everyone in the NCIS building," Ziva added. "We'd know if she'd meant to hit anyone by now."

"Almost everyone?"

"Yeah, she's not stupid enough to try it on Gibbs or the director," Ziva said as she glanced at her husband, who read the unspoken words in her eyes and turned to Gabrielle.

"Hey Gab, let's go watch a movie before dinner, okay?"

"Ima?" Gabrielle asked hesitantly. Ziva nodded reassuringly at her.

"Go Gabby, I'll be fine sweetie."

"Okay Ima," Gabrielle told her as she jumped frown the counter, flipping as she did and landing in a crouch on the floor. Tony simply laughed as Gabrielle stood up and dusted herself down.

"Come on my little assassin child," He told Gabrielle, who grinned and walked out of the room, closely followed by her father. Eli watched them go before turning back to Ziva.

"Anthony? You chose Anthony?"

"I tried to tell you."

"And Gabrielle?"

"Same answer."

"Who does she call Saba?"

"Jethro."

"I am her real Saba, not agent Gibbs."

"Yeah, the Saba she's never seen in her entire life."

"Still her Saba."

Ziva sighed and ran a hand through her dark wavy hair. "Why are you here, Aba?"

Eli sat down quietly at one of the kitchen stools. "We didn't part on the best of terms back then."

"No, we didn't."

"You offered for me to visit for the first five years."

"Yes," Ziva shrugged. "I still believed in you back then, still wanted you to know what was going on with my life."

"And then you stopped."

"Have you ever heard of the phrase 'too many no's and people stop asking'?"

Eli nodded sadly.

"Well, that's what happened," Ziva told him frankly as she found a pasta sauce and set it in another pan. "Your work was more important to you than the only family you had left. You said no too many times for me to ask again."

"I thought I would surprise you by showing up unannounced," Eli told her in a low voice. "But it seems I was the one that was more surprised, yes?"

Ziva smiled slightly. "I guess."

"I would have wanted to know about my grandchild, Ziva." He told her with a sigh. Ziva stared straight at him.

"I tried Aba. It wasn't something I wanted to tell you over the phone though. I figured a nice dinner over here would be a good time to tell you, but you cancelled last minute, remember?"

"I was busy," Eli defended his actions immediately and Ziva sighed, stirring the pasta on the hob.

"You were always busy. So was I, I had a husband, and a child to look after, as well as still working, but I still made time to ask you round and prepare everything too."

"Ziva, I'm sorry."

"So?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said." Ziva told him as there was a knock to the door. Ziva smiled as she ran over to the door and pulled it open. "Jethro!" She cried happily as she saw the man who was like a father to them all stood in the doorway with a smile on his face. "Did you come to see Gabby?"

"I wouldn't miss seeing Scrap now, would I?" Gibbs asked rhetorically as he walked in, stopping near the couch. "Plus I want to see how Abby's birthday present is coming along."

"Sure thing, she's in the home theatre room with Tony," Ziva told him as they both walked into the kitchen part of the large room. Gibbs took one look at Eli before looking back at Ziva, his face protective.

"Ziver?"

"I do not know Jethro." She told him, looking weary as she moved back to the stove, pouring pasta into three bowls then adding the sauce as well. Gibbs turned to Eli, his face impenetrable, even as he addressed his words to Ziva.

"Would you like me to take Scrap for the night, so you and Tony can talk to this… man, Ziver?" Gibbs asked, his eyes never leaving Eli's slightly glaring ones.

"That would be good Jethro." Ziva said, looking tired, drained from everything the world had thrown at her. Gibbs nodded.

"But I would like to spend time with my grandchild." Eli protested, but Gibbs glared at him, as did Ziva.

"She doesn't want to spend time with you though," Ziva pointed out as Gibbs disappeared from the room for a moment, coming back with a bulging black studded backpack that he held warily. Ziva smiled.

"Another present from Abby," She said to Gibbs, who smiled back.

"Yeah, I thought it looked familiar," He mentioned as both Tony and Gabrielle wandered through into the main room. Gabrielle's usually sombre face broke into a large grin as soon as she saw Gibbs.

"Saba!" She yelled, running straight up to Gibbs, who immediately picked her up, dropping the backpack at the same time. Gabrielle heard the sound of the bag dropping to the floor and looked down at it before looking back at Gibbs, a pout on her face.

"I'm spending the night at yours, aren't I Saba?"

Gibbs nodded and she pouted again.

"But I wanted to talk with director man over there!"

"I know your version of 'talking' Scrap, and I don't think it would end well, so come on, and you can work on your presents for peoples, okay Scrap?"

Gabrielle nodded, albeit reluctantly, and jumped to the ground, picking up her bag and placing a kiss on each of her parents' cheeks before following Gibbs out of the front door. All three adults remaining in the house watched the pair leave. As soon as the front door shut with a bang, Tony and Ziva turned to face Eli. Ziva spoke first.

"Why are you really here Aba?"

Eli sighed before reaching into his pocket and producing an old picture, handing it over to Ziva. Her eyes welled up as she saw the picture. It was a picture of her, Ari, Tali and Rivka, stood together outside a shop, looking happy. Tony looked at the picture over Ziva's shoulder and placed a comforting hand on her waist. Eli pursed his lips at the contact, but said nothing. If they had been newlyweds, he might have said something, convinced Ziva to divorce the man, but as far as he knew, they had probably been married for around twelve years. Even Eli knew he couldn't break off a marriage that had lasted that long. He sighed. He might not like Tony DiNozzo very much but if Ziva had chosen him and they had managed to make it work for so long, not to mention raising his only grandchild, then he could accept Anthony as part of the family. He looked up to see Ziva looking a lot lie the child in the photo, open, fragile, as she leant into her husband's embrace. Tony was the one who looked up and at Eli.

"Why are you here Eli?" He asked gently, not the know-it-all playboy agent he had once been. Being a husband and a dad had made him softer, yet firmer in a way he'd never been before. Eli looked up at him and saw that Tony held no contempt in his gaze, just concern for the two women in his life, his wife and his daughter. Eli sighed, closing his eyes.

"I had been thinking, for a long time, and I finally found something out. I might not have killed my children, but I lost them long before they died."

Tony led Ziva to a seat and sat her down, sitting beside her and holding her hand in comfort. Eli sighed again and continued.

"I didn't like Tali, not a lot anyway. She had compassion yes, but she would never follow in my footsteps, and that would always put her last in my eyes, no matter how much my wife tried to convince me otherwise. Tali tried to get into Mossad, simply to please me, but she died before she could. She died knowing she was last in my affection. No child should die thinking that.

"And then Ari." Tony tensed at the mention of the terrorist that had killed Kate, and attempted to kill Abby and Gibbs, before being taken down by his wife. Eli didn't notice the tense postures of the pair opposite him as he continued. "Ari was everything I ever wanted. Strong, no compassion where it wasn't needed, willing to carry out any task I asked him to. Well, almost. He wouldn't follow orders when it came to his sisters. They came first in his eyes, I knew that. Still, I made him hate me so much he wanted to kill me. I wish I'd never done that.

"Ziva, you are the only family I have left. I know I have never been the best father in the world, and your mother was right for taking you and Tali away from me, but please, I would like another chance. Please, let me be in your life, let me be with my grandchild." He finished, unshed tears in his eyes. Ziva looked shocked, Tony only marginally less so. Ziva glanced at Tony, who nodded at her encouragingly, silently saying he'd agree with whatever decision she made. She nodded shakily before turning back to her father, her face firm.

"I don't know Aba." She told him regretfully. "It's been too long for me to simply forgive and forget, yes?" Tony nodded and she continued. "I can try Aba, but I can make no promises. As for seeing your grandchild, that will be up to Gabrielle. I won't force your presence upon her. If you agree to that, then I see no reason why you can't be part of this family." Eli smiled, a genuine smile, the first in too many years, before sobering and turning to Tony.

"And you Anthony? What about you?"

Tony glanced at Ziva, who smiled and nodded at him.

"Well, I hated Ari, and I didn't like you much either. But Ziva loves you, and that's enough for me. It's up to her, not me, but I'm happy with what she says. She wears the pants in this house, that's why I usually wear shorts." Ziva snorted and began laughing as Tony poked her playfully in the side. Eli looked slightly confused.

"Pants?"

Ziva choked down her laughs and turned to her father. "It means I am the boss of this house, that is why I wear the 'pants' in the household. Tony was just being Tony, that's all."

Eli shrugged. "I guess I could live with that." Tony nodded.

"Yeah, me too."

Ziva smiled as she got up and gave her father a hug. "I've missed you Aba."

"I missed you too, Ziva."

…

Gibbs sat in his basement, pouring himself a jar of bourbon as Gabrielle came down the stairs, her messy curls pulled back from her face into a sloppy bun, and her jumper gone, replaced by a large and baggy NIS grey t-shirt. Gibbs smiled at her and put the bourbon down. Gabrielle smiled back as she stood on top of one of the supporting beams the structure of Gibbs' latest boat was resting upon.

"So, where were we up to?" She asked curiously, and Gibbs got up to stand behind her, handing her a sanding block.

"You go with the grain of the wood, okay?" He told her, and she nodded, beginning to sand the piece wood with a little bit of help from Gibbs. Gibbs smiled a true smile as he helped her. He'd first taught Kelly to help him, then Zack had helped him, and now Gabrielle was helping. Gabrielle turned back to him after a moment, frowning in thought.

"Saba?"

"Uh huh?"

"Why do you call me Scrap?"

"Well, do you remember the first time you came down to the basement here?" He asked her and laughed when she flushed red in embarrassment. She had been three years old and had nearly made the basement look like a bomb wreck before they'd found her. Gibbs smiled as Gabrielle turned back to the boat and he knew what this particular boat would be named once the pair had finished it.

Gabrielle

FIN


End file.
